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Posts tagged ‘Soba Noodles’

I almost feel like a broken record with that one. I dunno… I sort of get the impression that I’ve done a million different variations on this same subject. Asian inspired dishes including broccoli, tofu, shrimp and sesame.

Well, what can I say? To me, this is the perfect “quicky meal”, the perfect “let’s-eat-some-veggies-and-clean-up-the-fridge-a-little” dish. Or, the perfect “darn-I-have-no-idea-what-to-make-tonight-let’s-see what’s-in the-fridge-and-whip-something-up” dinner plan.

*No, that’s not a tentacle that grew on the side of the bowl… it’s a green onion who, apparently, decided to jump out… The shrimp must’ve said something scary to him!

AND, it appears that I tend to always have broccoli, bell peppers, tofu and ginger in my fridge… 😉 Oh well! But it doesn’t matter what’s in your fridge really. The beauty of this is that you can use whatever veggies you want or have. Everyone ALWAYS has something in their fridge to whip up some kind of an Asian inspired rice or noodle based stirfry resembling dish, now, don’t they? 😉

Bottom line is, you don’t really need to follow a recipe here. If you don’t have the exact vegetables that are in this recipe, don’t sweat it. Use what you have. You don’t like shrimp? No problem! Use chicken, or eggs, why not?. You don’t care for soba noodles? Use rice instead…

This is one dish where a little bit of this and a little bit of that will get the job done!

INGREDIENTS(Serves 1)

80g soba noodles

75g extra firm tofu, cut into ½” cubes

6 tail on cooked shrimp (size 31-40)

5 mushrooms, sliced

1 cup broccoli florets

¼ red bell pepper, sliced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

2 bird’s eye chili peppers

2 green onions, chopped (save some to garnish if you want)

10g ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp tamari sauce

A drizzle of sesame oil

Sesame seeds, to garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook noodles per instruction on package. Throw in your broccoli when your noodles are 30 seconds away from being done, just to give it a quich blanch. Drain and set aside when done.

Meanwhile, coat a large skillet with cooking spray and heat it over high heat. When it’s really hot throw in the tofu cubes and mushroom slices and turn the heat down to medium-high. Cook from 5-10 minutes, until nice and golden brown.

Add shrimp and the rest of your vegetables and saute for a minute or two, then add tamari sauce, broccoli and noodles. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss quickly just to combine everything.

I finally went and bought some Soba noodles. I ended up spending $37. I told you there was no way I could set foot in that Asian market without spending tons of money. To my defense, I had the best of intentions this time. I didn’t even grab a cart when I got in. I was going to get the noodles and that’s it. But then, I spotted those cute little mini bokchoys. Sooooo cute. Only a dollar for the bag. I just had to get them. Then I headed straight for the Soba noodles. $2.49. Great. Now, let’s go! But wait… I wonder if perhaps they have brown rice noodles. Might as well have a look, since I’m here. Nah, no luck, but those are interesting: sweet potato noodles. OK, I have to get them. I’m too curious. Oh, and might as well get some rice sticks, since I’m here. Then I saw some flat leaf parsley, dill and coriander (god I HATE that stuff, it’s now official… more on that later) going for a dollar a bunch. Get one of each. Oh, and I was running low on green tea… well, you get the idea. It didn’t take long before my hands couldn’t handle it anymore and I had to get a cart after all.

So tonight, I tried those noodles for the first time. I liked! I decided to try them in the easiest possible way, in a soup. All I did is cook them quickly in some boiling water, transferred them to a bowl, then added 4 shrimps to the boiling water, left them in for about 30 seconds then transferred them to the bowl with the noodles. I discarded that water and started boiling a fresh pot.

While that was happening, I added 4 raw scallops, sliced in half, to the noodles and shrimp. Then, in went a handful of bean sprouts, 3 chopped asparagus, 4 of the super cute baby bok choys cut in half, one green onion, sliced, a handful cilantro (big mistake) oh, and a thai pepper, thinly sliced. Wow those are tiny, but potent little things! When the water started boiling, I diluted a tablespoon of miso, mixed it in and then poured this in the bowl over all the yummy ingredients that had been patiently waiting. I added a few drops of sesame oil and that was it, soup was ready to be enjoyed.

Looks good, doesn’t it? Well, it was… sort of. I just wish I hadn’t decided to fight with my brains over that stupid cilantro issue. I’ve never liked cilantro but recently go it in my mind that I would try to like it, that I would make every honest effort to let that herb grow on me. So every time I went grocery shopping, I grabbed one leaf from a bunch and ate it. While I never was able to say it was good, I THOUGHT that I didn’t hate it as much as I used to and was ready to enjoy it in a dish. Boy was I wrong! I hate the stuff so much, it almost makes me gag. Literally. Need I say it nearly ruined my beautiful soup for me? I ended up having to chuck a good part of it. So that’s it. Never again. Cilantro and I are officially through.